<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

Metaphorical structure

Responsibility is metaphorically structured. Metaphor, for Johnson and Lakoff, is more than just a figure of speech. It is a projection of meaning and structure from one domain, a familiar experience termed the source domain , onto another less familiar domain termed the target domain . Seeing the unfamiliar in terms of the familiar or extending existing meaning and experience to cover new regions, represents, for Johnson and Lakoff, a fundamental imaginative activity. So, our experience of physical forces and their interactions is encapsulated into the image schema, stimulus-response. Then this basic structure is projected onto the moral domain: stimulus-response becomes perception of relevance-response to relevance. This projection doesn't merely repeat the original experience; it does not reduce the moral to the physical. Stimulus-response is expanded by the insertion of moral content. Stimulus becomes sensitivity to what is morally salient in a situation; we use perceptual and emotional sensitivities and skills to zero in on the moral aspects of a complex situation. Response, when projected onto the moral domain, is no longer unthinking, automatic; now it becomes the formulation of action that is calibrated to moral salience. This metaphorical structure of responsibility is subject to further elaborations. As you will see in the exercises below, responsibility begins as a punitive response to failure to achieve the minimally moral. We blame an engineer for an accident when it results from her failure to exercise even minimal due care in the design and testing of a product. But, through repeated metaphorical projections, moral repsonsibility is repeatedly elaborated onto higher and higher moral spaces as the pursuit of excellence, not just the avoidance of blame. In short, the metaphorical elaboration of the root meaning of responsibility allows us to see continuity between its negative, reactive, and blame-center forms and more advanced positive, proactive, and supererogatory praise-worthy forms. Just below is a slide that taken from a presentation given by the author on "Teaching Moral Responsibility" at the annual meeting of the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics, March 2012; it shows the elaboration of moral responsibility through the repeated projeections of the image schema stimulus-response or the experience of physical force and its interactions. (This account of responsibilty as a metaphor is taken from Mark Johnson, The Body in the Mind, p. 14. See other Johnson references listed below.)

Responsibility as Metaphor.

Positive and negative senses of responsibility

Negative rsponsibility

The negative sense focuses on assigning blame for the untoward. (Untoward means something negative like harmful or unduely risky, etc.) This sense of responsibility works, primarily, from the threshold of the morally minimum. If you are below this threshold, several things happen: you are subjective to reactive attitudes (resentment, indignation, guilt), blame or approbation, and punishment. It is this sense that Bradley had in mind when he asserted that "repsonsibliity is necessarily connected to punishment." In this domain, the goal is to stay out of trouble which is the same as staying above the minmally moral. Good enough to stay out of trouble but not really good. (Hobbes, in Calvin and Hobbes, tells Santa Clause that he has not committed any murders or robbed any banks this year. Hobbes tells him that this might not be enough; not doing wrong does not fully constitute doing good.)

Questions & Answers

what is phylogeny
Odigie Reply
evolutionary history and relationship of an organism or group of organisms
AI-Robot
ok
Deng
what is biology
Hajah Reply
the study of living organisms and their interactions with one another and their environments
AI-Robot
what is biology
Victoria Reply
HOW CAN MAN ORGAN FUNCTION
Alfred Reply
the diagram of the digestive system
Assiatu Reply
allimentary cannel
Ogenrwot
How does twins formed
William Reply
They formed in two ways first when one sperm and one egg are splited by mitosis or two sperm and two eggs join together
Oluwatobi
what is genetics
Josephine Reply
Genetics is the study of heredity
Misack
how does twins formed?
Misack
What is manual
Hassan Reply
discuss biological phenomenon and provide pieces of evidence to show that it was responsible for the formation of eukaryotic organelles
Joseph Reply
what is biology
Yousuf Reply
the study of living organisms and their interactions with one another and their environment.
Wine
discuss the biological phenomenon and provide pieces of evidence to show that it was responsible for the formation of eukaryotic organelles in an essay form
Joseph Reply
what is the blood cells
Shaker Reply
list any five characteristics of the blood cells
Shaker
lack electricity and its more savely than electronic microscope because its naturally by using of light
Abdullahi Reply
advantage of electronic microscope is easily and clearly while disadvantage is dangerous because its electronic. advantage of light microscope is savely and naturally by sun while disadvantage is not easily,means its not sharp and not clear
Abdullahi
cell theory state that every organisms composed of one or more cell,cell is the basic unit of life
Abdullahi
is like gone fail us
DENG
cells is the basic structure and functions of all living things
Ramadan
What is classification
ISCONT Reply
is organisms that are similar into groups called tara
Yamosa
in what situation (s) would be the use of a scanning electron microscope be ideal and why?
Kenna Reply
A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is ideal for situations requiring high-resolution imaging of surfaces. It is commonly used in materials science, biology, and geology to examine the topography and composition of samples at a nanoscale level. SEM is particularly useful for studying fine details,
Hilary
Got questions? Join the online conversation and get instant answers!
Jobilize.com Reply

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, The environments of the organization. OpenStax CNX. Feb 22, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11447/1.9
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'The environments of the organization' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask